“It was cold. I originally reached out with only one hand, with the other in my pocket. The general secretary, however, held my hand with both of his hands. So I quickly reached out with the other hand,” Wei said, recalling the December 2014 visit Xi paid to the Shiye Township Clinic to learn about the rural area-based healthcare services.

During the winter afternoon stop there, Xi shook hands and chatted with Wei, who was seeking treatment at

the clinic. “In addition to asking about our health, the general secretary also cared about whether the rural

public services in urban and rural areas and provide safe, effective, convenient and affordable public health

and basic healthcare services for the people.

Residents at Shiye, a hard-to-reach tiny island surrounded by the Yangtze River waters, used to be afraid of not only getting sick but also traveling out of the island because of poor traffic links with the outside.

Great changes have taken place here following Xi’s 2014 inspection tour in the township. Now, people do not

need to leave to seek treatment for minor diseases.

The past several years have seen the establishment of five joint departments, including cardiovascular

diseases and diabetes mellitus, by the Shiye Township Clinic and a Zhenjiang City-based healthcare services

group. The clinic now has color ultrasound and automatic biochemical analysis equipment in addition to general departments.

“At the township clinic, people now can enjoy medical services offered by Zhenjiang City-based hospitals,”

Wei said. Wei had an X-ray recently at the clinic for his knee pain, of which the image was sent online to the

Zhenjiang First People’s Hospital before the diagnosis results were sent back in minutes. “You could hardly

imagine this in the past,” Wei said.

In Zhenjiang, community-level clinics and the city’s prestigious hospitals have set up joint medical treatment

mechanisms, allowing more people to access quality basic healthcare services near their homes.

What Wei experienced at the Shiye Township Clinic served as an embodiment of the improvement in the

primary-level medical services network covering both the urban and rural areas of China.

Located in the deep Lyuliang Mountains of Shanxi Province, Kelan County is known for steep roads and barren farmland.

Wang Sannyu, a widow in her 60s, lives in Zhaojiawa Village located in the impoverished county with her two

grandchildren with disabilities.

She developed rheumatic heart disease and hypertension at an early age, which over the years have led to chronic bronchitis. The poor family’s living conditions got worse when her husband and son died a few years ago and her daughter-in-law left.

On the afternoon of June 21, 2017, Xi walked into their home, gave Wang words of comfort and urged local

officials to arrange special education for her grandchildren.

Tackling poverty caused by illness and the reoccurrence of poverty because of illness are objectives Xi has

repeatedly stressed.

After the Kelan inspection tour, Xi presided over a seminar on eliminating poverty in severely impoverished areas in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, where he called for more medical assistance, temporary relief and charitable aid for people living in poverty caused by sickness.

Now, under a full village relocation program, Wang’s family has moved into a new building, and family

doctors are regularly visiting and delivering medicine to the door.

Last year, Wang was hospitalized twice with a total cost of 8,914.3 yuan (about 1,271 U.S. dollars), but she

only had to pay 525.77 yuan herself.

Currently, people living in poverty could have over 90 percent of their hospital medical cost reimbursed under

a package of insurance and aid policies, according to Kelan’s healthcare security authority.

The package is a major livelihood project introduced in the province to alleviate poverty caused by illness

By the end of 2018, Wang’s family had successfully shaken off poverty. “It is our greatest blessing to live in

this great era,” said Wang, adding that she will always remember the warmth brought by Xi’s visit to her

home.

Four years ago, Xi made the request for “safe and reliable” medicine when inspecting a subordinate company of the Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group, which is located in the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian, northeast China’s Jilin Province.

“Over the past four years, Xi’s words have become a motto which we keep in mind all the time,” said You

Haitao, the subordinate company’s vice general manager in charge of production.

“The responsibility weighs heavier than mountains,” You said while standing in the workshop where Xi

visited, repeating what Xi had said. “All pharmaceutical companies should earnestly play their roles to fulfill

social responsibilities and ensure that every kind of medicine and every single tablet are safe and reliable.”

Embedding these remarks in heart is not only because Xi said it, but You also understands that the pills are

linked to the safety of the people and can not bear even slightest carelessness.

In recent years, China has called off import tariffs on anticancer drugs, accelerated the examining and

approving process for new drugs and built an all-process drug tracing system. All these efforts have shown

the country’s dedication to guarantee the safety and reliability in every step of medicine production, sales and use.

Thanks to these favorable policies, more patients are expected to be able to use reliable medicines at lower